BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's constitutional Court is expected to begin hearing a case that will decide whether the government or the Election Commission has the right to postpone a nationwide election scheduled for Feb. 2.

The head of the Election Commission has argued the poll should be delayed because of the unrest that has shaken the country since protesters began late last year demanding the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Yingluck says the government has no legal authority to postpone the ballot, and the date fixed by royal decree is unchangeable.

She had called the vote after dissolving the lower house of Parliament in December to ease the crisis.